Since the Russian edition of this book was published in 1975 many new research works have appeared which have made necessary some additions for the English edition, to reflect progress in molecular developmental genetics. Recent important findings in this field have brought about essential corrections to the concept of genetic regulation of the process of cell differentiation. The discovery of the mosaic structure of a gene prompted the re evaluation of our considerations about the regulation of gene activity in eukaryotes, and the data about transcriptional events during ontogenesis are of...